In addition to the core curriculum, students are also
taught Art, Theatre Arts (speaking & writing) for grades 3-6, Music, Physical
Education, Technology and Spanish for grades 5-8.
The Art Program
The Art Program offers the opportunity for creative expression
of students’ ideas. It encourages students to use a wide variety
of materials as they explore and recreate the world around them. The program
provides another perspective to learning history and culture and enables
students to integrate this experience into own artistic expression and
writing.
The Theatre Arts Program
Students in grade 3 through 6 experience Theatre Arts. Vocabulary
development and language expression are reinforced in a creative environment
utilizing poetry, dialogue, stories and plays. Creative writing and dramatics
provide an opportunity for students to develop imagination and confidence
while improving oral and written language skills.
Technology
Students in grade 1 through 8 receive instruction in technology. The
goal of the technology program is to provide technical skills training,
research skills, support for the content areas and to strengthen writing
skills.
Music
Grade 1 through 6 take one music class each week. During that class
three things are attempted: singing, reading music and making music. Singing
encourages the child to both listen and reproduce pitch and rhythm in
cooperation with their classmates. Students are also taught to recognize
and articulate the structural icons that constitute a musical score, including
notes (pitch and time-value), interpreting the time and key signatures,
and identifying intervallic and melodic structures. For Grade 1 and 2
the focus is on feeling and remembering rhythmic patterns, using mnemonic
devices, hand-claps, percussion instruments and movement. Grades 3 and
4 focus on using these skills to play the Treble Recorder, understanding
the concept of scale and learning to recognize and play simple melodies
at sight. Grades Five and Six study song-forms (both poetry and music)
in order to create their own songs (words and music in structured form).
In all grades, the emphasis is on learning the elements of making music
so that the children are more able to express themselves and understand
that expression from others with greater clarity.
Sports
Students from Transfiguration as well as the other Catholic schools
in the neighborhood participate in track and field events as well as volleyball
and basketball tournaments. Apart from the physical competition involved,
the program emphasizes the value of effort, perseverance, team spirit,
sportsmanship and cultural awareness. Students also experience the value
of service in this program which is staffed primarily by volunteers from
high school and colleges who themselves are graduates of this program.
